falling asleep

[gzambran]

My month-old beardie is very friendly, but there were a few things I was wondering about. He's usually good to be picked up except for occasionally scurrying around his cage before i take him out. When i hold him he usually sits quietly on my hand, but sometimes he "passes out" and closes his eyes and lies down. He will wake up for a few minutes, look around then fall asleep again. Is this normal? I've heard that reptiles close their eyes when theyre stressed, but he seems pretty relaxed. Are there any key signs of stress or discomfort that dragons will show when they don't want to be handled? He is my first non-mammalian pet, so I'm still trying to figure out the difference between comfortable/sleepy behavior and nervous behavior. Thanks!

 

[DaRkL3AD3R]

Mine of about the same age does the same thing. I will pick him up, and he just closes his eyes. Put him down, he closes his eyes and lay's flat on his tummy. Dunno why they do it other than like you said, stress.

A sign of stressed out bearded dragon is under his chin, if it is white he's comfortable if it's black he's stressed. Check this as mine gets pretty black when I take him out and carry him. He is calm though so probably just too much excitement is scaring him.

 

[gzambran]

My little boy's beard stays white, so maybe hes just tired? I guess that would make sense too since most young animals sleep a lot

 

[DaRkL3AD3R]

My little boy's beard stays white, so maybe hes just tired? I guess that would make sense too since most young animals sleep a lot

That's a good sign then, as it means he's pretty comfortable. Maybe you did just get a really lazy dragon lol he's not scared, he's just sleepy! Jealous! hahaha I am afraid to even play with my dragon because I don't want him to get stressed. By the way, how long have you owned/had your dragon in his new home? Mines been here about 5-6 days and he still seems to be going through a bit of relocation stress. Just want to know if I got really unlucky, or if it does take a few weeks

 

[gzambran]

ive had him for about 2 weeks now. I think i just got really lucky! I got him from a home breeder, so he was handled a lot since he was born and I picked him because he seemed the friendliest of all the babies there . I wasnt sure if he was stressed out, but i guess hes just laid-back... although sometimes when i let him out in my room he likes to run around and lick things lol